In the Brooder
11 Years
Aug 4, 2008
I'm not entirely sure where to post this, but I've read a few posts here where people mentioned giving their chickens a bath. My question is- is there a trick to it? When or why do you bathe your chickens? Thank you for any help.

Chicken Fruit

10 Years
Feb 25, 2009
Echo Homestead
I wouldnt do to animals what they dont do naturally- unless theyre show animals.

Chickens dust bathe to keep clean. Generally thats good enough for them- provided you keep their dust or sand clean.

iam sure someone else has tips on washing chickens for shows or what not.

I've had to wash pasty butt off chicks, i just ran them under warm water, and then used a blow drier to get the fluff back up.


10 Years
Feb 15, 2009
Northern California
I bathe mine for show, and I take them in the shower. I use a mild soap (baby shampoo works best), scrub with the direction of the feathers, rinse, and wrap them in a towel. then I blow em dry and they're good to go!


Rhymes with 'henn'
11 Years
Jun 14, 2008
South Puget Sound

bathed only my banty cochin, Tribble. She gets really gross in the mud because her legs are soooo short. She's prone to mites, so keeping her clean is important. She also gets pooped on my the others, who are much taller than her. i'm hoping to introduce her to the chicks in a coupel of weeks, when they're they same size she is.

I put her in the kitchen sink and bathe her the same way I would a dog or cat. Or my hair, for that matter: wet, lather, rinse.

She likes the blow dry, which is warm & soothing. I keep her in the house untik she's 100% dry, since they will catch a chill.


8 Years
Jun 29, 2011
Chai had gotten pooped on all over her back and it was pretty nasty, so I just bathed her - put her in a typical dollar-tree plastic storage bowl with warm water and a drop of Suave clarifying shampoo (didn't have baby shampoo on hand) to suds it up. She was very nice about being put in water except a brief panic-flap when her feet made contact.

I dampened up her back by dripping water from my wet hands onto her, then turned on the showerhead and let her get soaked. Then I would suds up her back a little with a drop of the shampoo again, then more water. Did this thrice and separated the clumped up feathers and until the poop smell was gone, then I sat her onto the paper towel on the toilet seat, toweled her a lot (during which her submissive silence became brief pitiful noises which I figure translates into "Woe is me"), and spent the next 2 hours using kleenex since my circuit broke at the exact moment I was using the blowdryer. When the power came back on, I blowdried her further until it was just her underside a little damp; she wanted no more of the cleaning process.

She got so FLUFFY from being clean, it's awesome.
I keep the coop clean as well, but the occasional being-under-the-roost-pole means you'll be pooped on at some point or another, so... Chicken bath worked, lol!

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